Electronic Arts' DICE studio has announced plans to release Battlefield 3 Premium Edition in September. The Premium bundle will cost $70 and, as you can guess from the name, comes with a membership to Battlefield Premium, a service that bombards gamers with a bunch of extras, including five themed digital expansion packs and access to DLC before everyone else.

Bioware said it's adding a free-to-play (F2P) option to its online game Star Wars: The Old Republic this fall. The F2P option will give players access to each of the eight Star Wars character class storylines, which they can grind up to level 50. Bioware's pro bono mode will also include unlimited game access and new higher-level game content and features made available through individual purchases or via a subscription.

Nearly a dozen game developers, including Electronic Arts (EA), stand accused of infringing upon a patent held by Uniloc that relates to a "system and method for preventing unauthorized access to electronic data." According to Uniloc, EA and others are using the patented technology, without permission, in certain Android-based mobile games, including Bejeweled 2, which was specifically named in the lawsuit.

Remember when you could walk into a store like Software Etc. and wade through aisles and aisles of PC games packaged in gigantic boxes? Those days are long gone, and though you can still find a single rack of PC titles at your local GameStop, boxed copies are becoming something of a rarity these days. For Electronic Arts, the demise of boxed games, PC and console, can't happen fast enough as it looks to go all-in with digital downloads.

Electronic Arts' contentious fued with Steam isn't exactly on the same level as the Hatfields and McCoys was long before the digital age, but it's clear there exists plenty of bad blood between these two sides. The latest indication of this comes from an interview Senior VP of Global E-Commerce for EA, David DeMartini, gave to GamesIndustry. DeMartini, who obviously has a vested interest in Origin, had some choice words for Steam.

It's sort of a weird time for game developers and publishers. Despite a reluctance on the part of Microsoft and Sony to talk about and/or announce next generation console hardware, the current crop of consoles are gettting long in the tooth and, as many suspect, facing succession. It's already happening with Nintendo's Wii console as the Wii U draws closer to release, and within the next year or so, it's conceivable to think there will be a PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720 in the wild, too. Despite the uncertainty, however, EA isn't holding back and intends to invest a healthy $80 million into developing titles for next generation consoles. Does EA know something we don't?

We've seen some bizarre marketing stunts before, but one of the coolest ideas undoubtedly belongs to Electronic Arts. Forget for moment any ill will you have for EA and the company's refusal to play nice with Steam. EA's much hyped Mass Effect 3 will be successful even without Valve's platform, and if you happen to be in the right place at the right time, you'll have a chance to score a copy for free simply by reaching out and grabbing it as it falls from the sky. What the frak?

We don't post a ton of deals here on Maximum PC, but when we do, they're pretty sweet. With that in mind, we thought you'd like to know Electronic Arts is giving away free copies of Battlefield 3 for PC when you pre-order Mass Effect 3 from Origin. That's a $60 value folks (or around $45 if you do a bit of shopping around) for a game we're pretty fond of.

Electronic Arts has apparently come to the conclusion that the Wii is not a suitable platform for future versions of its Tiger Woods golf game and will not be releasing Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 on Nintendo's motion control console. It wasn't all that long ago when the Wii was the most popular platform for the Tiger Wood series, so it's a bit surprising EA has decided to skip it altogether.

There's a hilariously fitting story about dystopian futures and the consequences of corporate expansion somewhere in Syndicate's evolution from brainy blast-from-the-past to, well, lots of blasting, but it's quite a lengthy (not to mention depressing) tale. Unfortunately, however, we've now got an epilogue, and it's not exactly all cybernetic bunnies and artificially generated rainbows. While console players are getting a co-op demo of Syndicate's FPS reboot later this month, EA's officially gone on record saying that "There are no current plans for a PC demo." But at least we're not coming away completely empty handed. GOG.com – being the wondrous conglomerate of time-manipulating wizards that is it – is removing the original Syndicate from cryostasis and stocking its virtual shelves. Sounds like a win in our book.